Attorney General Stalls Bush Aides’ Contempt Citations
Washington – Attorney General Michael Mukasey refused Friday to refer the House’s contempt citations against two of President Bush’s top aides to a federal grand jury. 
Mukasey said White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and former presidential counsel Harriet Miers committed no crime in ignoring subpoenas to provide Congress with White House documents or testify about the controversial firings of nine federal prosecutors in 2006.
“The department will not bring the congressional contempt citations before a grand jury or take any other action to prosecute Mr. Bolten or Ms. Miers,” Mukasey wrote House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco.
As promised, Pelosi announced that she has given the Judiciary Committee authority to file a lawsuit against Bolten and Miers in federal court.
“The American people demand that we uphold the law,” Pelosi said. “As public officials, we take an oath to uphold the Constitution and protect our system of checks and balances, and our civil lawsuit seeks to do just that.”
The House voted two weeks ago to cite Bolten and Miers for contempt of Congress and seek a grand jury investigation. Most Republicans boycotted the vote.
Pelosi said the House would file a civil suit seeking enforcement of the contempt citations if federal prosecutors declined to seek misdemeanor charges against Bolten and Miers. The plaintiffs would be the entire Judiciary Committee, who would be represented by the House’s lawyers, according to aides to Pelosi and committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich.
Democrats say Bush’s instructions to Miers and Bolten to ignore the Judiciary Committee’s subpoenas constituted an abuse of power and an attempt to block an effort to find out whether the White House directed the firing of nine U.S. attorneys in 2006 for political reasons. Republicans call the whole affair a political game.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/01/MN1KVBOHA.DTL
This article appeared on page A - 3 of the San Francisco Chronicle
© 2008 Hearst Communications Inc.
You have to give that to them, they do fight all the way, unlike the democrats, who give in all the time.
With a judicary hand picked by the most abusive administration in our history, and a legislature that has defaulted their duties by allowing one outrage after another, what else could one expect???
The democrats are doing the minimum and when they come to power, if they come to power, they will not investigate because this would be “divisive”. The healing of the nation will require that no tough questions be asked and that noone be prosecuted. Everything will be swept under the rug. Why? Because they are all accomplices in crime: war crimes, payoffs, conflicts of interest, treason, and felonies of all kinds.
Republicans have a very strange idea of what government is. There is apparently no oversite or accountability in their universe. Which, given the sexual, moral, and economic perversion of so many of them leads to a very iffy situation. Bush should have paid more attention to some of his classes and less to cocaine and booze while at Yale. One can only assume he hasn’t heard about checks and balances or maybe even the three branches of government. Maybe he’ll have time to read in prison.
Free Don Siegelman!
Go to youtube and google his case
watch the 60 Minutes program there from Feb. 24
and get active
What do Dianne Feinstein and Charles Schumer have to say about this glaring proof of their impaired judgment in confirming Mukasey?
Why not go after Miers’ ability to practice law? And Alberto Gonzales.
In Pakistan, lawyers stood up to beatings and imprisonment.
As for Feinstein and Schumer, give them a call on Monday. They have failed to uphold their oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States. So has most of Congress.
Bush’s “Administration” is a criminal organization.
I cannot believe Mdm. Speaker spoke the F$$K UP!!! Finally, those MF’ers along with Mukasey whom thinks AG = Assistant God, in the Executive Branch I suppose it does.
You cannot do a run-around on the Congress nor ignore Judiciary subpoenas, the AG, the prez, they cannot say “Miers, Bolton ahh, forget about it!”, he did, they did it still is against the Constitution of the US.
I saw this headline and cried, I SWEAR, I said WTF enough, every half hour some other member of bush, et al is comitting another crime, yet it just goes away.
I hate them, I really and truly have not found a more despicable, immoral, treasonous, lying, torturing, murderous, psycopathic TRAITORS in my life!
psychopathic,edit, schmedit
It was democrat NY Senator, Chuck Schumer, that kept cajoling, the senate into confirming Michael Mukasey. He said, MM was above partisian politics. Yeah right!
This is terrible.
R
N
C
Rotten
Nasty
Criminals
Talk about a corrupt group, this group won’t stop until they are investigated by a honest special prosecutor, is there such a thing anymore? Are Truth and Justice Gone forever, or have we forever been sunk into the dumpster of bad morals, and corruption, with the loss of our constitutional rights? God Help America. He’s our only hope.
Here’s a thought. Maybe the whole Bush administration could be prosecuted as a corrupt organization under RICO.
Considering the lengths that Dubya, Cheney, & Co.’s legal department is fighting this, it is logical to assume that there is a lot of malfeasance there. More than likely, if there is to be any prosecution of Miers and Bolton, it will be after the Bush crime family has vacated the White House.
“This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”
Winston Churchill
“Should we wonder from our principles in moments of error or alarm,let us hasson to retrace our steps and to regain the road which alone leads to peace ,liberty,and saftey .”
Thomas Jefferson
What sucks here is that congress is only going after these two because their crime is contempt of congress. The Dems don’t care about falsified evidence of WMDs in Iraq, or War Crimes, or Renditions, or unlawful domestic surveillance, or Valarie Plume, or even Bush’s embezzlement of funds from Harkin Energy. They only care about these two because they directly defied the Dems Congressional authority.
Why aren’t these people in prison?
Mukasey needs to resign. Bolten and Meirs need to report to prison. All these people are non-patriots.
This tells you why the republicans will easily win the upcoming election. They own the government.
But lizard blames it all on the Democrats…
Shouldn’t we blame them now for everything that the Bush Gestapo does?
I get it! Now every-time something comes up, it is the Dems fault so throw them out and then well talk!
I’m keeping hope alive and going with this is “the end of the beginning” — some type of actual confrontation is going to happen. But like Lizard said, which is actually an echo of Bush, these people like a good fight so ya gotta be ready to bleed.
One way not to get slaughtered is to amass a large mob on your side, picture the scene of the “Prince of Valor” standing with the Bishop at the steps of the church in Gangs Of New York.
While one can vent rage at those who have assumed power, as I have done many times, I feel that using that time and energy to amass the mob is a more effectual and pleasing tactic.
As I go to rallies and meetings I gain the impression that the majority of Citizens don’t know who their Congressional representative is never mind getting in touch with them to demand impeachment:
So does anyone have that link that spits out not just Congressional but everyone from State Senator to US Senators representation?
I hope so, and I hope that someone here can relate to the image of the Bishop above and the amassing of The Mob. For we have a grand moment before us - the end of the beginning - this week Faith groups gather in DC to express their desires for different behavior and commit civil disobediance, the week after that it’s Veteran’s groups and then I believe United For Peace and Justice.
If these groups can come together to form The Mob grand transformation can happen for America. I say unite under the Call To Impeach.
But most of all I say keep hope alive and rejoice in the potency of the moment, for the end of the beginning is upon us.
AlexLawyer March 1st, 2008 9:24 pm
“What do Dianne Feinstein and Charles Schumer have to say about this glaring proof of their impaired judgment in confirming Mukasey?”
Alex,
I can’t imagine how they would defend themselves, but here’s an interesting paraphrase from Noam Chomsky:
Everyone makes mistakes but when a group of very intelligent people keep making the same “stupid mistakes” over and over again it then becomes not a series of mistakes but an alternate plan with ulterior motives.
It’s not that the congressional Dems have to be thrown out, but they must be held accountable. This and the recent surveillance bill they let expire are the only 2 thing they stood up to Bush for his entire 7 years in office; even after they won a majority. Certainly some of the Dems like Lieberman (who personally I believe is a Republican plant) must go and be replaced in future primaries by progressive candidates who have some balls (metaphorically speaking of coarse, we don’t want to discriminate.). The bottom line is we have a system of checks and balances. It’s congress’s job to oversee the executive branch, and instead of doing that the Dems ran and hid in fear, so Bush and Co. have not and most likely will not be held accountable. There was only one Senator (Russ Feingold) and one representative (I can’t remember her name, if anyone knows please include it in a post) in all of congress who voted against giving Bush unlimited war powers. This pattern was repeated over and over again till just this year.
This looks like a another ‘take’ in the G.W. Bush movie where an official like Mukasey is directed by the president to ignore the ‘contempt citation’ of Miers and Bolten who also were directed by the president to IGNORE the subpoenas to provide documents. See, it’s the same Bush odor that has reeked ever since this country started mistrusting his magisterial azz. This is just another ‘cut’ and ‘take’ of the same movie. Now, the real question is.. how sincere is Pelosi in processing justice here?
“Now, the real question is.. how sincere is Pelosi in processing justice here?”
If history is any judge, not sincere at all.
formernadervoter
I watched 60 minutes, and was appalled by what “they” did to Don Siegelman - a governor, no less, and they took him to prison immediately, and manacled yet, for gods sake!
Is it any wonder the dem leaders in congress are afraid of their own shadows? When all the courts are in “their” pockets besides?
Is it any wonder “they” don’t appear a bit worried about a dem ending up in the white house?
Does anyone ever notice or is it me why every photo of bushco looks like they are either possessed or have some hidden scare on the back of their skull, Harriet does have a strange demonic smirk and glazey eyes like the bunch of them captured on film, for instance vampires can’t be seen in a mirror? I don’t think this is far fetched thinking on my part.
Pelosi, and the Dem’s are not going to do a damn, thing. This is not a difficult prediction to make.
The difference between the Democrats and the Republicans is, that the Republicans have betrayed the principals of our Constitution, the Democrats have betrayed us. I voted for them last time, and I will not be making that mistake again.
Inherent Contemp. Congress needs to use its power of Inherent Contempt. They need to send the Capitol Hill Police to arrest Miers and Bolton. This is a REAL Constitutional Power that Congress has. I am NOT making this up.
The Capitol Hill police then handcuff Miers and Bolton and bring them to the Congress where they’re put on trial immediately. Yes, the Congress then becomes a court room.
If Miers and Bloton refuse to speak they’re thrown in a dusty prison cell in the basement that probably hasn’t been used in 100 years.
Congressman Robert Wexler is FOR using Inherent Contempt. The President CANNOT stop Congress from using this power.
Miers and Bolton are OBSTRUCTING an investigation into a felony - the firing of US Attorney for politcal reasons.
Siegelman is just one case. There are more,
Call 1-800-828-0498 (Capitol Hill Switchboard) and tell the operator to patch you over to your Congressperson. Demand Accountability.
Pelosi is conning all of you once again. Misdemeanor? Civil Suit? What a F*ng Insult! These are felonies. These are some of the worst crimes EVER committed in our country. The Justice Dept. is now an arm of the Republican Party. US Attorneys have been programmed to go after and imprison the few honest remaining Democrats.
How long till the gutless Dems cave on this one?
Is this any surprise? It’s just part of the Bush plan to cover his ass. Do you think he would nominate anyone for AG who would really enforce the law?
She looks like my scary third grade teacher.
If the Dems in Congress were for real about this, instead of just playing for cheap headlines, here’s what they’d do. The Attorney General would suddenly find himself with no money at all to spend on his personal staff, office expenses and travel. Politically, you wouldn’t want to cut some important function of Justice to get back at him, but the Congress could start passing a bill tomorrow that blocks him from spending any money on his own office. He’d be going down the hall to use a pay phone because he’d have zero budget for even a phone bill much less a receptionist.
It used to be that when a committee in Congress said jump, these agencies jumped. This is why, they control (or used to control) the money. Anyone see Charlie Wilson’s War where he threatens to cut the CIA budget by like a million dollars for every day the CIA doesn’t send someone to see him about the war he wants? And how by 10 am there’s someone in his office waiting to see him? That’s how to do it.
The Dems won’t because they just want the cheap headlines. Back not too long ago when they were confirming this guy, they could have forced him to agree to follow up on contempt citations then. But they didn’t. The Dems are all hot-air.
If you want a real opposition in Congress, vote Green.
“Democrats say Bush’s instructions to Miers and Bolten to ignore the Judiciary Committee’s subpoenas constituted an abuse of power and an attempt to block an effort to find out whether the White House directed the firing of nine U.S. attorneys in 2006 for political reasons.”
If the Dems really believed this, we’d be discussing this in impeachment hearings against Bush. As usual, the very tactic the Dems choose to use is one that leads to a predictable dead-end. Just what the Dems want. Cheap headlines, no action.
Okay, look at the picture of Harriet Miers. Now imagine her saying; “You cur-sed brat!, look what you’ve done, I’m melting! What a world! Who would’ve thought a good little girl like you could destroy my beautiful wickedness?!”
Only thing missing is the flying monkeys and the hat.
…and in the end, pardons for everybody!
Let’s see–first you approve the new attorney general, even though you have more than 40 votes to sustain a filibuster against him (the same ratio you continually cower from and bow to when wielded by the Republicans), then you continue to refuse to impeach the guy who says they don’t have to do anything that he says they don’t. Smoke and mirrors. These Democrats may talk like they want to do something, but they’re just part of the plot to suppress justice in this country.
One does not act outside the law if one reinterprets or rewrites the law to keep one’s arse covered. Besides, if you’re the monarch, you can do as you want. Doesn’t everyone see that the “Emperor Wears No Clothes”, his arse is in plain, disgusting view.
There are so many deficiencies in our system that it overwhelms. But we have to stop the diminishment of our rights, at least, and work in determined cooperation to reverse the assault. Re-establish the Balance of Power (Congress, find your backbone, honor your pledge to uphold and defend the constitution, and respond by recognizing the people and acting in their interest).
Cntrl-Z — Yes, she’s saying with her gleeful eyes:
Namasate
Where in the hell is the Main stream Media on this? This used to be called a constitutional crisis. And the next step is filing a “civil suit”? What is this O.J.Simpson? Can anyone say impeachment ???? I mean really !!!!!! I agree with one of the above writers - this is fucked up !!!
I have a sense for these things. That lady is a bitch.